This is another elk splashing in the same lake as in my earlier elk in the water post. Unlike the bull in my previous post, this is not exactly a prime specimen of an elk. But I like the low perspective, the amusing look of the spike (young) bull, and his seemingly playful antics splashing in the lake. Plus, the light was soft. Be sure to click on the images for a larger view.
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Here’s another image from last fall. It was a great pleasure to watch these bulls spar at first light. They didn’t appear to be bothered by the lack of cow elk to observe their struggle. Be sure to click on the image for a larger version.
A bull elk rests in an aspen grove during the fall rut, Rocky Mountain National Park
A fair bit of wildlife photography is spontaneous. The animal does something interesting (or just makes an appearance). I put the autofocus sensor on the eye (or at least try to), place the animal in a pleasing composition (if there’s time), and then blaze away at eight frames a second. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, the challenge of catching the decisive moment — shooting the animal — is one of the great pleasures of wildlife photography. But, I claim previsulation credit for this elk (Cervus canadensis) (a.k.a. wapiti). As soon as I saw this large bull in this grove of aspen, I anticipated this shot. Big bull, resting after a hard day defending his harem during the rut. Framed on all sides by aspen. I really like this image a lot. (Troublingly, my wife, and number one photo critic, is not as enthusiastic.) Please let me know what you think in the comments. And be sure to click on the photo for a larger view.
A bull elk splashes through the shallows of Lake Estes to drive off a smaller bull, Estes Park Colorado
I am conflicted about these elk (a.k.a. wapiti) (Cervus canadensis). On one hand, it’s not every day that one comes across elk splashing in the water. And that’s exactly what this bull was doing: whenever a smaller bull approached his harem, the herd bull would charge across the shallows. To my eye, it appeared that he was purposefully making as large a splash as possible. On the other hand, the elk were in the water to cool off. In other words, they did not enter the lake until the sun was high in the sky and the sweet, soft light long gone. I hate shooting in high-contrast light, particularly with a contrasty subject, like elk. On balance, I must take my splashing elk where I find them, but hopefully next fall I can find them in the water on an overcast day. The bull occasionally swam deeper into the lake. Note the branches caught in the animal’s antlers from an earlier bush-thrashing display. In between charges, the herd bull would stop to bugle. My dad and I made an overnight trip to Rocky Mountain National Park earlier this month to photograph the elk during the second or “false” rut. The park is wonderful in December. The crowds are gone, the snow is falling, and the bulls in the main bachelor herd spar almost constantly. In fact, we almost had too much snow — at times the morning snow was so heavy that it obscured the elk. (Click on the images for a larger view and a slideshow).
Though the snow made it a bit challenging to photograph the bulls fighting in Horseshoe Park, the snow made for some wonderful images of the cow and calf herd in Moraine park. There is something whimsical about a show-covered elk.
As an added bonus, we ran across this mulie. Unfortunately another rude photographer ran this guy off before I could get the perfect image, but I’m reasonably happy wit this one.
One last image of the elk fighting. Less of a sense of motion than the first image, but I like the eye contact. These images are from a recent trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to capture the rutting elk Unfortunately I couldn’t get the bull above in good light with a nice background. The image above is a little different from the standard elk image, but I like the way that it captures the aggression and hormone-fueled drama of the rut. Click on the image for a larger version, and please post a comment. Unlike the bull, this cow cooperated by posing in front of a nice background in good light. It’s easy to overlook the females when there are big-antlered bulls around, but photographs of the cows show a completely different “personality” or “feel” to the elk. I think this one works. At first I wasn’t crazy about this image of a bighorn looking over a precipice. But somehow the image grew on me. Let me know what you think of this image in the comments. I am torn about this elk silhouette as well. On the one hand, I like the colors and the fact that this isn’t just a boring, “straight” portrait of an elk. On the other hand, it somehow seems a bit too sentimental. Kind of like a painting-on-a-mirror that one might buy at a low-end souvenir store. Finally, here are two more bighorn images. These guys were in absolutely gorgeous late evening light. Unfortunately, all they wanted to do was rest in the sun. Still, I don’t see bighorn all that often, so I was happy to make these images. I just wish this ram would have rurned his head a bit to camera right. It is something of a personal embarrassment that I live in close proximity to Colorado’s hordes of (largely tame) elk but don’t have many (read: any) great elk photos in my portfolio. Part of the problem is that elk are so common and are photographed so often that it’s difficult to make an original, captivating image of them. Just think of how many captivating pigeon images you’ve seen. Exactly. Anyway, with my elk shortage in mind I made a quick trip to Rocky Mountain National Park on Sunday to make some elk images. The weather was awful — howling winds, and, eventually, heavy snow –and the light wasn’t that great either. Fortunately, I found a group of bulls that alternated between grazing and sparring. (I’m told this is the product of a second “false” elk rut?) In any event, I made at least one image that I’m happy to add to my portfolio:
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